My brother has the perfect aged children to enjoy a pantomime, they’re 10 and 12 and so I gave up my tickets so that he could enjoy the show with them.
Dick Whittington Review, Richmond Theatre
I’m informed by my girlfriend who joined me and my two children to go and see Dick Whittington on Tuesday night that “you have to have been brought up on panto to love panto”. Having been raised in Hong Kong, I was blissfully unaware of the madness of the great British pantomime, something seemingly happening up and down the country at this time of year in a land far far away…
About ten minutes into Dick Whittington I took a moment to scan the theatre and the entire audience was whooping with laughter, eyes on stalks, bums barely on seats. Someone’s grandmother, two rows ahead of us, even got up to have a little dance at one point. I witnessed the beaming smiles spread across both of my children’s faces and my girlfriend’s. All three of them were positively connecting over how hilarious it all was and already finding things to reminisce about.
The show was predictably very silly. The jokes and life references were on point. Paul Merton, his wife Suki and the rest of the cast all did a fabulous job. All of the sets and costumes were brilliant. My children are still convinced that the scripted mishaps were completely unintentional and some of the punchlines are still sinking in for them as I write.
Clearly this is a GREAT British pantomime. Dick Whittington will make you feel young and fun again, it will sprinkle some Christmas magic over you and it will restore some of that feeling of lost innocence. Seeing the show reminded me of the time I took my youngest to see the sights of London for the first time. I saw London for the first time myself again, because I was looking at it through a different lens.
So, take your kids, they will love it. And if you were lucky enough to have grown up on pantomimes, don’t take your kids, take yourselves. You will love it too!!
Thank you very much for reading this and I’d like to take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy 2024.
